4.1 Further Reading

Beyond these release notes and the installation guide further documentation on
Debian GNU/Linux is available from the Debian Documentation Project (DDP),
whose goal is to create high quality documentation for Debian users and
developers. Documentation including the Debian Guide, Debian New Maintainers
Guide, and Debian FAQ are available, and many more. For full details of the
resources available see the DDP website at http://www.debian.org/doc/ddp

Documentation for individual packages is installed into
/usr/share/doc/package, this may include copyright
information, Debian specific details and any upstream documentation.

4.2 Getting Help

There are many sources of help, advice and support for Debian users, but these
should only be considered if research into documentation of the issue has
exhausted all sources. This section provides a short introduction into these
which may be helpful for new Debian users.

4.2.1 Mailing lists

The mailing lists of most interest to Debian users are the debian-user
(English) and other debian-user-language lists (for other
languages). For information on these lists and details of how to subscribe see
http://lists.debian.org/.
Please check the archives for answers to your question prior to posting and
also adhere to standard list etiquette.

4.2.2 Internet Relay Chat

Debian has an IRC channel dedicated to the support and aid of Debian users
located on the Open Projects IRC network which is dedicated to providing
collaborative information sharing resources for the Open Source community. To
access the channel point your favourite IRC client at irc.openprojects.net and
join #debian.

Please follow the channel guidelines, respecting other users fully. For more
information on Open Projects please visit the website.

4.3 Reporting Bugs

We strive to make Debian GNU/Linux a high quality operating system, however
that does not mean that the packages we provide are totally free of bugs. As
our service to our users we provide all the information on reported bugs at our
own Bug Tracking System (BTS) browseable at bugs.debian.org, this is consistent
with Debian's open development.

If you find a bug in the distribution or in packaged software that is part of
it, please report it so that it can be properly fixed for next releases.
Reporting bugs requires a valid email address, we ask for this so that we can
trace bugs and developers can get in contact with submitters should they need
more information.

You can submit a bug report either using the programs reportbug
and bug (available in their apropriate packages) or manually using
email. You can read more about the Bug Tracking System and how to use it by
reading the reference cards (available at /usr/share/doc/debian in
any installed system) or online at the Bug Tracking System.

4.4 Contributing to Debian

You do not need to be an expert to contribute to Debian. By assisting users
with problems on the various user support lists you are contributing to the
community. Identifying (and importantly solving) problems related to the
development of the distribution by participating on the development lists is also extremely helpful. To
maintain Debian's high quality distribution submit bugs and help developers track
them down and fix them. If you have a way with words then you may want to
contribute more actively by helping to write documentation or translate existing
documentation into your own language.

If you can dedicate more time, you could manage a piece of the Free Software
collection within Debian. Especially helpful is if people adopt or maintain
items that people have requested for inclusion within Debian, the Work Needing and Prospective Packages
database details this information. If you have an interest in
specific groups then you may find enjoyment in contributing to some of Debian's
subprojects which include ports to particular architectures, Debian Jr. and
Debian Med.

In any case, if you are working in the free software community in any way, as a
user, programmer, writer or translator you are already helping the free
software effort. Contributing is rewarding and fun, and as well as allowing
you to meet new people it gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside.